Import Action Items from a Spreadsheet

This topic offers guidelines on creating a spreadsheet template in Microsoft Excel for importing existing action items into Project Center.

You can access the sample action item spreadsheet template supplied with Project Center in its default location: C:\Program Files\Newforma\2022 Edition\Project Center\Templates\Import_ActionItems_Template.xlsx.

You must be a Project Center administrator to perform this procedure.

Action item fields

The import spreadsheet has the following fields:

●        Action Item Id – Unique IDs are required.

●        Subject – Required.

●        Status – Required. Must be one of the statuses defined for the project.

●        Priority – Required. Must be one of the priorities defined for the project.

●        Discipline – Not required.

●        Due Date – Not required.

●        Assigned To – Not required. If you are sending notifications, then this field is required.  Must be a valid email address format or project team member. You can use a fake email address if necessary and delete it later or create the contact first if an email address cannot be used.

●        Assigned By – Not required. If used, must be in a valid email address format or project team member name. You can use a fake email address if necessary and delete it later or create the contact first if an email address cannot be used.

●        CC – Not required. If used, must be in a valid email address format or project team member name.

●        Description – Not required.

●        Keywords – Not required. A list of keywords for the action item, delimited by semi-colons (;). It must match the keyword list if the user is not allowed to edit the keyword list.

●        Email Log – Not required. List of full UNC paths to .MSG files separated by asterisks.

●        Supporting Docs – Not required. List of full UNC paths to any file type separated by asterisks.

●        Source Descriptor – Data source. Leave blank. For internal use only.

●        Source Primary Key – Source primary key of the item. Leave blank. For internal use only.

●        Send Notification – Not required. If used, enter Yes to send a notification to the Assigned To email address. If No, do not send notifications.

●        Type - Required. The type of action item being entered. This must match a keyword in the Action Item types keyword list assigned to action items in project settings.

●        Assigned. Required. The date the action item was assigned.

●        Action Completed. Required. The date work on the action item was completed.

●        Percent Complete. Required. How much of the action item is complete. Must be an integer between 1 and 100.

To create an import file for action items and import it

1.     Make a backup copy of your existing spreadsheet with the data.

2.     Edit the spreadsheet and fill in the required data:

●        Remove any extra rows;

●        Determine how your fields map to Project Center fields (you can rearrange columns to match Project Center columns).

To import  action items correctly, you must format your Excel spreadsheet to the exact format as the template supplied above.

3.     Copy your data columns to the Import_ActionItems_Template.xls file, replacing the sample columns with your own information.

4.     The Draft Status - Delete, Priority - Delete, Discipline - Delete and Type - Delete tabs include the keyword list values for the Draft Status, Priority, Discipline and Type fields. Change any of the existing values by simply typing a new value in the same cell.

For information on extending the list with additional values, please refer to Add Keyword Values to a Spreadsheet Template.

5.     Edit the fields based on the information given in the Requirements section, shown above.

6.     After you finish editing the spreadsheet, import it into a Project Center project by clicking Utilities > Import Spreadsheet from the Tasks panel of the Action Items activity center to open the Select Spreadsheet dialog box.

7.     Locate the spreadsheet, then click Open to start the import process.

8.     After importing, the Import Log dialog box opens showing any import errors. Fix any errors that appear in the spreadsheet, then re-import it.

The import will not succeed until all errors are addressed.

9.     After the spreadsheet is imported, each row in the spreadsheet becomes an action item, and the action items appear in the appropriate categories.